A.C.Rieke

Ok, so, what do these three men have in common? Apparently, they’re all on the same page about one thing: education reform.

The trio is teaming up for a tour of cities across America in an effort to bring attention to the great needfor public education reform in our country and to encourage all community members to become involved in the issue. The tour starts this fall and has scheduled stops in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Baltimore.

Now, you may be asking, “Why these guys? What do they have to do with education?”

Well, Arne Duncan is the easiest answer, as he is the Obama administration’s Secretary of Education. It’s his job to tout education reform. Rev. Al Sharpton and his civil rights organization, National Action Network, have long been concerned about the inequalities present in our school system. Rev. Sharpton believes that everyone should have an equal opportunity to quality education. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich frequently talks about the need for education reform, especially in the areas of math and science. He often brings attention to several reports (“A Nation at Risk” 1983, Hart-Rudman Commission National Security Report 2001) that say America’s educational system is a national security threat. And, what do ya know, Mr. Gingrich used to be a college teacher.

So, three very different people can agree on the need for education reform in America. How wonderful! We’re all going to come together on this issue! We’re going to reform education!
How?
Well, at this point, we’ll have to ask the bartender for the punchline.

A.C.Rieke

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if we had to make our choice for president based only on the candidates’ written views, proposals, and voting records, without ever hearing them speak, seeing what they look like, or being bombarded by attack ads and media opinions? If that were the case, it seems that the presidential race would solely be about the issues and how the candidates’ views fall in line with our own.

Election Day is right around the corner, and with all of the media talk flying around and causing distractions, it can be difficult for everyday Americans to focus on the real issues facing the 2008 presidential race. One of these issues is education. While it may not come up as often as the economy, the Iraq war, or healthcare, education is still an important issue because it truly affects every American. Some of the major topics concerning education include the following:

Charter schools: These schools are privately-run, but publicly-funded. What, exactly, does this mean? In a nutshell, charter schools receive government funds, but don’t have all of the rules that normal public schools do. Some believe this can make for better-quality education; others think just the opposite.

Federal funding: In other words, the Department of Education. Although state and local governments are in charge of most education spending, the DOE supplies the federal funding. Where schools get their funding and what amount they receive has become a major concern to some.

No Child Left Behind: Who hasn’t heard of this law, which calls for high standards and testing-accountability for all schools and all children? Needless to say, while some support the “idea” behind this law, most agree that there are major problems with it.

Teacher testing and merit pay: States are in charge of setting requirements for certifying teachers, which usually include passing a standardized test. Opponents of standardized tests feel that test results can be biased and discouraging; therefore, other ways to certify teachers need to be explored. Merit pay is the idea of paying teachers an increased amount based on their proven performance in the classroom. But, the question is, how do we choose to measure a teacher’s performance?

Vouchers: Instead of families having to send their children to a specific public school based on their geographical location, vouchers are like coupons that give parents a choice and let them decide which school they want their children to attend. Some believe this will increase school competition, thereby forcing failing schools to improve.

So, what are the candidates’ positions on these educational issues? We dug past the controversies of the hour to find out and offer a quick summary of the candidates’ plans and voting records in the three related posts that follow.

A.C.Rieke

McCain Views

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If you’ve been checking John McCain’s website often, you may have noticed that an education section did not appear until recently. (Does this mean that education is not on the top of this candidate’s list of priorities?) A press release on McCain’s website, dated July 16, 2008, lays out his general views on education. The following are some of McCain’s main educational focuses:

School choice: McCain’s main concern about education involves school choice (i.e., vouchers—though that word does not appear on the site). He firmly believes that parents should be able to send their children to whatever school they choose. If schools are failing, students shouldn’t be forced to attend those schools.

No Child Left Behind: McCain believes that we should learn a lesson from No Child Left Behind, and improve and build upon the plan.

Online education: McCain is a strong supporter of “virtual learning.” He aims to put $500 million (of current funds) towards building “virtual schools,” by offering $250 million as grants for states to provide more online education opportunities to students, and $250 million in scholarships for students to take online courses or tutoring.

Federal funding: McCain addresses Title II funding (presumably from either the Higher Education Act or NCLB) that would be used to recruit high-quality teachers to underperforming schools, and to be put directly at school-level so principals can obtain the resources their schools need.

Early education: The most recent section added to McCain’s website (September 2008) offers explanations about the importance of making sure every child enters school “ready to learn.” McCain wants to improve already-existing early childhood programs by creating “Head Start Centers of Excellence,” and ensuring that all children have access to these programs.

Higher education: Another press release on McCain’s website—this one dated August 14, 2008—states his concerns for higher education. His main idea involves simplifying tax benefits, federal financial aid, and lending programs so that more eligible families and students will understand and use them. He will also support university research by eliminating earmarks.

[Heard a lot of talk about earmarks lately? Earmarks, as defined by the Congressional Research Service, are “Provisions associated with legislation (appropriations or general legislation) that specify certain congressional spending priorities or in revenue bills that apply to a very limited number of individuals or entities. Earmarks may appear in either the legislative text or report language (committee reports accompanying reported bills and joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference report).”]

Overall, McCain’s website appears to offer more words and beliefs about education than actual plans and solutions, but please check out the education section of his website and judge for yourself.

A.C.Rieke

Obama Views

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Barack Obama wants to make it very clear where he stands on educational issues, which might explain the 17+ pages that his website offers to outline his views and goals. Obama’s website goes into great detail about actual plans—including funding explanations—that are based on statistics and research.

Early Childhood Education

Obama’s passion for education revolves mainly around early education—really­ early education that begins at birth. He has developed a “Zero to Five” plan that would help both children and their parents by investing $10 billion to do the following:

Create Early Learning Challenge Grants

Increase Early Head Start and Head Start programs

Make sure all children are able to attend preschool

Create a Presidential Early Learning Council to reach across federal, state, and local levels

Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit

Increase funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant Program to help low-income families afford child care and to set higher standards for child caregivers

Obama believes that everyone should have access to higher education. To increase college enrollment, Obama would make college more attainable and affordable by:

Making the financial aid process super easy by eliminating the FAFSA altogether and simply using tax information to evaluate students’ eligibility

Creating the American Opportunity Tax Credit to offer the first $4000 of college tuition to be covered

Offering $25 million for states to create Early Assessment Programs to prepare high school students for college

Increasing the Pell Grant to $5,400 by 2012

Creating a Community College Partnership Program to offer grants to community colleges for improving and expanding their programs

Getting rid of the private loan programs to save taxpayers money

Funding

Obama has a lot of numbers in his plans, but he also knows we can’t solve problems simply by increasing funding. Money has to be put towards real solutions and programs that work. While his educational plans will cost about $18 billion, he states where this money will come from in the last paragraph of his Plan for Lifetime Success Through Education—the savings from his plan to cut wasteful spending (basically by reducing earmarks and reforming erroneous federal spending).

“Investing in what works”

By learning from programs that have worked in certain states, and by analyzing research and statistics, Obama has come up with a detailed plan of action to reform education. Obama’s plans also support further educational research in order to measure effectiveness of new programs and adjust for the future. This quote from his Plan for Lifetime Success Through Educationexplains the importance of research:

“We currently make inadequate investments into researching and developing better educational tools and methods. While we spend roughly $400 billion annually in this country on public education, we spend less than seven tenths of one percent of that—$260 million—figuring out what actually works. By comparison, the Department of Defense spends roughly ten percent of its annual budget on research and development. And the National Institute for Health spends roughly 100 times the amount we spend on educational [research and development]. Those investments are what give America the most advanced military and medical systems in the world.”

So, if we invest more in educational research, research shows we’d have a better educational system, no?

In 2001, McCain co-sponsored a bill that would give undocumented students access to higher education. According to the bill, students who finish high school and two years of college could become legal residents. Now, McCain supports legislation that would put an end to illegal immigration and citizenship loopholes.

McCain has supported voucher programs in Washington, D.C., as well as an amendment giving $1.8 billion per year to another voucher program, paid for by doing away with subsidies for ethanol, oil, gas, and sugar.

McCain’s views differ from that of the National Education Association (NEA) on most issues. For example, McCain supports private school vouchers, opposes smaller class sizes, opposes increasing federal education funding, opposes education employees’ rights to organize, and opposes protecting women from pay discrimination (Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act). The NEA takes the opposite stance on these issues, as does Barack Obama. Obama’s views on major education issues are greatly in line with those of the NEA. (See a comparison chart.)

Similarities

Both candidates believe the following:

Parents and teachers are the two most important factors in a child’s education.

No Child Left Behind needs to be “fixed.”

Higher education needs to be more affordable and attainable by simplifying the financial aid process and reforming lending programs.

There is a great need for high-quality teachers, especially in underperforming school systems.

Whichever side you support and whichever issues concern you most, make your voice heard and VOTE.